The College of Staten Island men’s tennis squad made it three wins in a row this afternoon, screaming by the St. Joseph’s College (LI) Eagles by a 7-2 count at the CSI Tennis Center this afternoon. CSI improved to 3-5 overall this season, while the Eagles fell to 0-3.
Play started with Doubles, and playing without usual No. 3 player Timur Shamuradev, CSI didn’t appear to miss a beat. In the pole position, Nick Zikos and Hector Molina paced CSI to an 8-5 win over SJC’s Adam Friel and Matt Reed. One spot down, CSI’s No. 2 tandem of Daniel Ursomanno and Ed Ruffe overpowered Brian Hicks and Tom O’Keefe by an 8-3 count. The Eagles, however, exacted a little revenge when the team of Stephen Fox and Chris Corrao out-shined CSI’s Austin Kapetanakis and Kulachuk Chuenpratum in a tough, 8-6, contest.
CSI won five out of six singles to put an exclamation point on the match. All of CSI’s winners won in straight sets, including a tough win by Zikos over Fried in the top spot, 7-5, 7-6 (7-1). Molina was also steady in a 7-5, 6-4 win over Reed in the No. 2 spot. It also took seven points in the first set to score wins from Ruffe at No. 4 (who won 7-6, 6-1) and Chuenpratum at No. 5 (who won 7-5, 6-0).
Winning most convincingly was Ursomanno, who netted a 6-0, 6-1, winner at No. 3 over Hicks. SJC’s only win was at No. 6, where Correa won a marathon match over Kapetanakis, 6-4, 7-5 (10-7).
CSI’s next match will be a non-conference date at Rutgers-Newark this coming Tuesday at 5pm.